Newsletter June 2017

Monday, June 12, 2017

Hi,

Welcome to the June 2017 newsletter from Psychology Tools. It contains details of the big changes made to the site in the last couple of weeks and, as ever, a collection of the best psychology resources, news and links from around the web.

Best wishes,

Matthew

ANNOUNCING PSYCHOLOGY TOOLS PRO

This week has seen the launch of Psychology Tools Proand we've seen an amazing response so far. Members get access to Pro versions of all the worksheets, therapy audio, books, and exclusive resources. Best of all, you get a super-generous license allowing you to share it all (including the books and audio) with all your clients for free. All this for less than $7 a month.

SELF-COMPASSION VIDEOS

I've just finished reading Dennis Tirch's The Compassionate Mind Approach To Overcoming Anxiety and thought it was an excellent take on compassion focused therapy. Dennis has recently appeared in a series of three short videos on Russ Harris' YouTube channel. Together they explore ideas about self-compassion, and it's the first time I've heard anyone use the term "fierce compassion". Each part is only about 5 minutes long, treat yourself:

PSYCHOLOGY RESOURCES AND ARTICLES ON THE WEB

In light of the atrocities perpetrated in the UK over the last few weeks it's worth being aware of psychological interventions immediately post-trauma. A Cochrane reviewfound individual 'critical incident stress debriefing' to be ineffective or detrimental, and recommended a screen-and-treat approach. My understanding is that the intervention of choice is now considered to be Psychological First Aid.

Russ Harris has posted version 2.0 of the Choice Point tool on his site. The original version was published in The Weight Escape by Ciarrochi, Bailey & Harris, but can be used transdiagnostically. This new version is beautifully documented and he describes how to use the tool for history-taking, case formulation, or for reinforcing ACT core processes.

PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH

Apologies if this one is a bit technical but I spent 3 years researching memory in PTSD and now work in a trauma service, so the findings of this paper in Science have a bearing upon the explanations I can use with my clients. In short the researchers found that fear memories in mice are simultaneously created in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. This challenges the more common story that short-term memories are formed in the hippocampus and then consolidated into long-term memory in the cortex. Sadly the full article is behind a paywall but this description of the study on the BBC website is good

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